Let It Roar
by Lady Angelic
Summary: Forced to flee Gotham after a plan goes wrong, the Joker and Harley contemplate whether or not they can ever return to their home. Nolanverse. Oneshot for now, rated M for possible later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I would like to dedicate this to my very friendly and helpful friend TitansGirl1234 for always being a muse and sounding board.

I'm unsure as of yet if I will continue this story into a multichapter piece, but as for now, the first chapter can stand alone as a oneshot.

Please remember to read and review.

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Silence filled the room. It settled in the corners and swept through the windows, hushing the scattering glass, and the twinkling sounds that they produced; it muffled the footsteps banging across the wooden floors, the creaking floorboards beneath black boots. No voices could be heard shouting, a sea of uniform helmets blurring faces into anonymity.

She felt her heart pounding in her chest, the blood rushing through her ears. Her stomach was deep down by her feet, nauseatingly far away from its home. She closed her eyes, crushing the light from the streetlamps away from her vision. She held her breath, felt her shoulders shaking.

She was terrified for her life, squatting in the corner of a dark building, gun clutched between her hands. She willed her muscles to steady, and opened her eyes, brow set, jaw clenched. She looked around for the Joker. He was about 20 feet away, crouched low to the floor, looking straight back at her.

His eyes were dark, a frown pulled across his face.

He heard a shout and he snapped his face away from her direction, looking through the single doorway separating them from sure death. The silence still filled her ears and she looked towards the empty blackness, eyes wide, hands steadying her weapon, ready to draw at the drop of a hat.

She glanced back at him, his chest swelled full of air. He was shouting something at her, his whole body moving as he barked at her.

_Move! Move! Get out of here!_ She could see his mouth forming the words before she ever heard them hit her ears. She stood slowly, bent almost in half, and darted towards him. He leapt up when he saw her move and the two charged for their escape.

She wasn't entirely sure how their plan had failed - not to this degree anyways. Sure, there were always a couple hiccoughs in any heist they pulled, but it was as if the two of them had walked into a trap: like they had stupidly waltzed into the hands of the _Bat_ and Gotham's police.

Harley worried they had a mole. There was no way that the police were clever enough to figure out the next move the duo could plan. They were supposed to rig the whole building to blow: it was to be the first of several historic landmarks that the Joker was planning on destroying. They hadn't even blown their first building to pieces yet, so there really was no way that the police could have known what they were up to.

Time slowed for a moment as they crossed the threshold of their haven into Hell. Gunfire erupted into a deafening roar as the Joker began firing (_the best defense is a good offense he'd always say_). He grabbed her arm with his free hand and dragged her behind him, the couple bursting from the doorway in an explosion of bullets.

Harley kept her gun trained behind her, looking over her shoulder to send a spray of cover fire as they rounded the corner. It was up to her to keep them off their trail. _Them…_ the swarm of faceless soldiers nipping at her heels. The Joker kicked through the wooden door at the end of the hall and screamed at Harley to hurry up.

They had rigged that door to blow…

She let out a shriek behind him, and he let her hand go to bolt towards the half dozen or so helmet-ed strangers that blocked their escape. The Joker swung his arm in front of him, slamming the butt of his gun into the first helmet within reach. He swirled around, kicking a gun that was point blank from its owner. The crack of gunfire stunned Harley and she lifted her weapon to cover the Joker, landing several solid hits on the strangers surround them.

"Move, damn it!" He yelled back at her and she took off for the next door she could find. He followed up behind her . _Bangbangbang!_

She felt the air around her move and felt the heat blow past her face as the fuse finally lit its target. It erupted into a roar of fire, deafening her and swallowing the men they left behind in its hungry blow. The Joker's fingers wrapped firmly on her shoulders and he slammed her onto the floor, falling on top of her as they went.

She hit the wooden floor with a smack, the air sucked from her lungs by the heat from the explosion and weight of her fall. He was scrambling on top of her, pulling at her arms, dragging her along as he stumbled to his feet.

"Damn it, Harley! Don't make me carry—" he raised one hand and shot over her head. She never saw if he hit his target. She cringed and pulled herself to her feet, quickly gaining speed as the two of them pushed through the final set of doors to the outside world.

The building creaked behind them, wincing from the blow it suffered. Harley heard it begin to crackle, the fire licking up through the holes in the floor it had created. She turned, wide-eyed and looked back at the disaster she had helped create, marveling for a moment in the glory of the chaos.

A shadow passed in front of her, blocking out the light of the fire. She locked eyes with it, the Joker yanking at her arm to keep her moving. He stood tall, turning everything but his face away from the fleeing pair. _The Bat_… He was too far away to stop them now, having made it safely into the cover of the night.

The building erupted in flames, a loud crack followed by a hollow silence screamed through the hot night air. The structure gave way, crumbling to the ground with a deafening roar. Smoke, dirt, dust, debris all came tumbling towards them in a tidal wave of aftermath, swirling past their feet as they ran.

The building would be a first of many that would fall that night. They had timed the downfall of the city perfectly, like a well-written symphony. It would be a matter of minutes before the next building would be left in shambles. 20 more minutes for the next, and an hour and a half until the one after that. They wanted to leave people afraid to leave their homes, send them scrambling in fear for the next attack.

The power was out for blocks in all directions. She felt the gravel passing beneath her feet, and she finally turned her head away. Her heart pounded and her lungs opened, gulping in the thick, hot air. They ran until they couldn't run anymore, until she was sure her feet her bleeding and thought her whole body might cave in. Sirens wailed in the distance behind them, motivating their feet to keeping moving, urging their blood to continue to pound through their tired veins.

They had hit the edge of town, where the beginnings of greenery were starting to creep in near the collapsing buildings. Vines wove in a out of the windows and cracks of the desolate structures, trees splitting foundations, bursting through every imperfection in the abandoned warehouses, family homes and businesses.

The Joker stopped the first car he saw then, splitting the man's head in two with a single shot between the eyes. He needed no witnesses to his escape, and wasn't about to let his freedom hang in the balance by some castrated idiot.

The two climbed into the car and raced as far from the city as they could. They drove for what felt like hours, the city burning behind them. The dawn began to break over the small, country-side towns they rocketed through. And finally, when Harley was sure her eyes would no longer stay open, the Joker pulled the car onto a two-track, and the forest consumed their car whole.

She wondered if they would ever be able to return. But for now, she was simply grateful to have been able to escape with her life.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note:

So I have decided to continue this story, mostly because of all the support from you readers. I want to thank you all for your support. However, I don't know how quickly I will be able to update these chapters, seeing as I don't have much free time in my personal life.

I do hope you enjoy this. And remember to read and review!

Lady Angelic

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Harley struggled to open the car door, battling against the thick underbrush and branches that screeched in protest against the glass and metal. She forced the door away from her and slipped out into the tangle of leaves. Edging around to the front of the car, she looked about, a little more frantically than she thought she would.

The Joker was close behind her, surveying the car before deciding that there was nothing of value left in it for him. He started to walk away from her, deeper into the forest before she balked and trotted after him, finally tucking her gun into the back of the waistband of her pants.

"Wait! Where are you going? Civilization is that way!" She threw a hand behind her, pointing back towards the car though she continued to follow him as he trudged on.

"It isn't safe going back, yet. Half of Gotham is on fire looking for _us_. We'd be lucky if they _only_ threw us back in Arkham, Harls…" he trailed off, eyes focusing on the path ahead of him.

She frowned up at him, tugging at the elbow of his coat, trying to get him to turn back and look at her, to be reasonable and realistic.

"There's no way—" she started, falling short of his footsteps and dragging behind.

"What?" He whipped around to face her, grabbing her arms in his large hands. "No way we'll what?"

"Survive…" she whispered, eyebrows twisting up.

He scoffed and let her go, continuing on in the same manner as before. "Have a little faith" she heard him mutter and he shrugged his coat off from his shoulders.

They seemed to walk forever. Her whole body was aching from the night's ordeal, bruises and scrapes appearing all over. She was exhausted, barely keeping her eyes open or urging her feet to continue to carry her. She wanted to lay down and rest, to gain her strength back before she was sure she'd fall.

The sun was rolling dangerously high in the sky, beating down through the thick canopy of trees. It sprayed light about the ground as if it were a thousand shards of shimmering glass. The carpet of ferns and leaves seemed to be always moving, fluttering in the breeze that snaked around Harley's feet. It was like the forest was alive with some restless spirit, trying to motivate the rest of the world into light-movement as it was.

A steep incline rose up in front of them and the Joker dutifully began to climb, his coat having been tied around his waist. He glanced over his shoulder to his follower and nodded his head towards the slope.

"We'll be able to see where to go from up here," he mumbled, shaking his fingers through his damp, curly hair.

By this point, Harley had stopped arguing, stopped resisting and whining to go back. She nodded up at him and shrugged out of her coat as well. The heat was slowing creeping up, at points becoming a sweltering, unrelenting force that almost knocked the energy entirely from her. But then the breeze would kick to life again, stirring life back through the forest's green carpet and bring with it relief from the oppressive temperature.

The climb upwards was worse than she had been expecting. Even though she had removed as many layers as she could manage without totally stripping, the sun beat down on them, forcing water from their bodies and breath from their lungs.

The Joker untucked his shirt from the waist of his pants and yanked the thin cotton material over his head, stuffing it in with his coat around his hips. Harley glanced up as he did this, frowning in jealousy that he was allowed to strip down and continue on, but if she did the same, she'd be scolded for it.

His bare skin was paler than she would have thought it to be. He never really went _outside_ undressed, so she had only ever seen him bare-chested inside the confines of their various hideaways. And even then, it was usually dark.

He was riddled with scars, glittering in the sunlight. They puckered up in an unusual manner, and Harley found herself wondering how half of them had come to be. There were scrapes and bruises from the previous night's escape. And there were the claw-marks that she found herself blushing at from familiarity. But the rest of the seemingly endless highway of discolored skin was something she had never really been given enough time to admire and memorize.

She found her eyes glued to his back, watching as his skin smoothly moved over his knotted muscles that quivered deep within him. She saw his ribs swell with air, counted the subtle points of his spine, and again found herself glowering in jealousy that he was allowed some relief from the heat.

The trees gave way quickly and Harley found herself struggling to climb the last few hundred feet to the top of a large embankment, slipping on the loose dirt and gravel that gave way under her feet.

The Joker stood waiting for her, breathing heavily, sweat shimmering in the afternoon light on his bare skin. His hands were tucked against his hip, resting on top of the knotted fabric that was his shirt and coat. He looked back to her, smiling slightly as she clambered over towards him.

Huffing a little, she stood next to him and surveyed the world around them.

Surrounding them, three-hundred and sixty degrees was nothing but thick forest: never ending, dense green, constantly shifting shades and hues. Harley felt so small, standing at the top of their small mountain, looking down upon the wilderness that was enclosing them. The hill continued on behind them, more tall trees and underbrush.

He took a step forward, shading his eyes from the sun.

"There isn't much as far as water goes…" She heard him mumble, and scanned the horizon with him. It must have been a couple miles away, but there was a small break in the top of the trees. "Over there – " he pointed to where she had been looking. " – there is either a field or a pond. Either way, that's where we should be headed."

She felt her stomach flop nervously in her gut. "But what if there isn't any water?"

"We'll make do." He replied and turned to her. He placed one large hand on her shoulder, and she felt the weight of his arm settle on her. He didn't quite smile at her, but there was a gentleness to his face she had never really seen before. He thumped her shoulder once and turned away.

The reality sunk in. It was just the two of them out here, in the middle of nowhere. She was entirely alone except for him. And that shook her somewhere deep inside. It scared her more than he ever had. He was something wild, sure. But he was not all-consuming. He was not full of creepy-crawlies, and wide eyes in the dark, and unpredictable weather. He was wild, but she knew him. She could handle his beastliness.

She was afraid for them – for herself, mostly.

And he turned back, noticing she hadn't moved, and grabbed her by her handle. Gently. She jumped, thinking there was suddenly someone new touching her.

"I can't make it without you." He said, his face serious and hard. "This isn't going to be anything like Gotham. We can't just sneak around and steal and _live_. We're going to have to try. And I'm going to need your help."

She frowned, turning her lips in to her teeth. She knew that as well as he did. But something hesitated in her. Some nagging feeling need inside of her heart told her to go back to the world and turn herself in. At least prison was predictable.

But she stepped forward, gripping his fingers between her own, and they set off for the gap in the trees.


End file.
